NewYearNewYouCarnivore!

[Fangs]

fast post today. woke up at 2:30am. Gonna be a super long day, already has been LOL

just so cold last night I hit the bed, turned on tv, crawled under a big ol’ comforter and woke up shocked into that, what day is it? what time is it? is it morning? no clue. Out like a light for my usual sleep time which put this waking up this early, my regular time so no way I could go back to sleep. Once my eyes pop open that is it for me.

gonna hit little smokehouse store. might buy a brisket. let someone else cook for me today but again, that heavy rub spice on it? hmm might just be cheeseburgers and steak as usual. we shall see. don’t care on food today, in a brain foggy kinda morning and I know I will get more tired as the day goes on. Brrrr…zc on strong everyone.

What title for February…someone throw a few good ones out into the thread, we can grab one up and move into carnivore Feb in good form

[Fangs]

FerociousCarnivoreFeb! sounds good to me cause we are all ferocious in holding plan—?? sound good, I started it off LOL

[Shinita]

As usual, I never have name ideas, merely plans to do it WAY better in the next month! I just wasn’t ready in January yet, I felt it even in the beginning. It was a very low-carb month, pretty good from me but I wanted proper carni! Oh well, I have 4 months left until June! (I have NO idea what my June will be like. I imagine it will be very different from my past once if I have plenty of carni days until then.)

My original plan (with 2 missing sponge cakes) + sour cream. 1600 kcal or so:

My modified one that I actually ate:

It’s NOT a tasty chicken. The spice is nice, it could have been more moist but it wasn’t dry, per se… But the taste of the cheap normal chicken was always very lacking and it’s one of the worse ones. At least not bad tasting just tasteless. Oh well, it was protein with crispy skin and I ate other, tastier meats along with it.

This was about 70g protein, 118g fat (I was SUPER careful with my pork jowl and now I wish to eat more of it… sigh). Of course it was not enough for me even with egg milks so I had a bunch of other things, mostly eggs. 111g protein, 157g fat, I am not satiated but not exactly hungry anymore. I surely will have at least a small dinner later. Very soon. I like to be satiated. I am borderline hungry. Why? - would I ask you but I will do that when I will have my Nth pure carni day. My carbs are pretty low today, by the way, even for my usual carnivore-ish days as my dairy was low. Well, carbs from dairy was low, about 2g It’s very modest from me. I got more from my eggs and I didn’t have many. Not like it matters, of course, these are just numbers I look at sometimes. I focus on fat and protein much more, my carb intake tends to be fine.

I had an okay workout, not a big improvement but at least a little so it’s good.

[Shinita]

I had a small dinner (planned a tiny one but I fancied more food… I have this phase) and tracked. (And then realized I forgot items.)
The usual type of TMAD (lunch and dinner at normal lunch- and dinnertime), 151g protein, 194g fat, almost a pound of meat.
Yep, if I choose fat, I better make it a fat fast day or else this will happen (when I am modest, this is a pretty low-fat day for me while somewhat focusing on it in the beginning. Good I mostly avoided the pork shoulder). It wasn’t sooo bad today as my main goal was keeping my protein as low as possible (without extreme effort, okay it wasn’t perfect…) and I did my workout today so calorie surplus makes sense.
And anyway, the pork jowl was lovely (but too little, it’s dangerous to eat so little of it - but I had no craving, just a tiny wishful thinking and feeling but I will eat it all up later. I learned to be patient like that).

I feel quite satiated now. Good. And too tired. Not good. I need my sunshine soon… I am solar powered (and protein and fat. sleep and exercise too. I need it all to function even remotely properly).

[Fangs]

This is my zc day. 1 lb of ribeye steak a tad sad they are thin cut but together they make a lb. I will woof them down, plus 2 thighs, 2 drums chicken for later. Got burger as backup extra but should be fine on the above I believe. Not in big food mood. Winter has me shut down kinda so going with the zc flow.

got everything defrosting now for later.
ZC ON!

[Karen18]

Meals over past couple of days

Just eating the salmon n mayo.

Was out dancing last night, very pleasant evening but ba k a tad bit late and too tired to get up for CrossFit so cancelled. Nice not feeling guilty when i cancel but just feel i am being kind to myself lol.

Still doing 100 push ups and 50 (each) side and front delt raises each day … will be 2 full months in a few days!. Any fabby saggy skin that was developing on my u derarms has gone and now nice and tight and skin nice and smooth

[Shinita]

I walked in the forest, snowdrops and hellebores came out!!!
The ginger cat is still here VERY assertive if it’s about food but skittish if it’s about us. But she still follows Alvaro…

I am very far from carnivore. I overate like crazy when I tried my actual best, I just not try ANYTHING at the moment I got hungry again last night and I just had enough so I did my second >200g protein day in January. I take a tiny break of tracking and worrying and then I try harder.
Now I wanna go back but not to carni yet, I have experiments to make and Alvaro made a cute soup. While I made a bad soup, this chicken frame is really cat food I suppose… Oh well, it was SUPER cheap (2 chicken frames for less than $1), no wonder people buy it for the cats as it’s cheaper than cat food… And cats love playing with tiny chicken bones, at least ours do. Even the pork in it couldn’t help, hopefully the pork part isn’t bad… I am sure it was fresh enough but boiled cheap chicken is usually not tasty to me (that’s why I put pork into it! but little because the chicken was so much… yeah, maybe that’s the problem. I didn’t use any plants either, maybe those can help with not tasty chicken a tiny bit but it’s still not a good solution, the taste of the meat is obviously the biggest factor by far).

But I won’t be wild tomorrow and then I make a lean and a fat-fast day, at least that’s the plan, both will be extreme low plant (or any other I suppose) carbs. And it will be true carnivore in February. I am curious how long I will last. Now I experiment with recipes, that part is cool. Eating isn’t so much, I don’t want meat now, I had scrambled eggs, those were kinda nice but I think I just want to feel right, eating is tiresome now, I did so much of it lately. You know, my “I wish to be a snake for a while” feeling, I have it sometimes.

I really focus on OMAD (well, actually on skipping lunch) from now on. Until I get my easy satiation where it’s impossible but it’s not necessarily a problem then.

I hope I will get some chill and not super hungry times in the beginning of February as whatever I had lately does bad things to my spirit And I hate tracking. At least on hungry days with zillion items when cooking, eating and cleaning already take way too much time and effort

I will be back in February!

[Azi]

Yesterday was weigh in day but I never got to it so I did it today another week and another pound Gone for a total of 13lbs gone…

Ketones 3.4 and I got a crazy blood sugar of 118 I suspect it’s cos I upped my protein the other day to 3 meals so put it back down and see what happens.
I’ll do another bllood sugar reading after eating see if it drops it back down…

[Fangs]

@Karen18, wonderful results for your arms K! and that is how carivores do it, we put in the work to make it happen.

every time I see that blue flower plate I instantly think of you…K posted some meat pics!

@Shinita, see you in Feb. Glad you enjoyed your walk in the forest.

@Azi, super congrats on you doing so well. Down, down ya go

---------------my 1lb of ribeye was delish. Not hungry after that meat, so late in getting my darn chicken in the oven. Just went in. UGH cause NOW I am hungry and have to wait for those suckers to cook. Oh well. Carnivores can wait. I also can’t wait to sop up all that delish chicken fat those thighs will make. Right now I am so in the mood for roasted up chicken and fat drippings! OK enough chat, I don’t wanna wait but I have no choice!

[FrankoBear]

January achievement unlocked. OMAD yesterday due to hunger and eating being secondary to living.

Had a frypan full of 2 rashers of bacon, 2 lamb chops, and 2 fried eggs in butter. Then a tin of mackerel. Sparkling rainwater to drink.

Summer Saturday chores in the morning. Some out in the sunshine. Watching bees in native flower blooms, honeyeaters in the birdbath, lifting potted plants higher to avoid the attention of rabbits. Times coming to snare and eat them. Middle of the day was hot so family to the beach. The sea wind was rambunctious but the ocean was warm. Long beach walk to an isolated reef lagoon that holds the most amazing underwater blues. Occasionally a dissipating surf wave would turn the lagoon edge into a natural fizzing spa. Billie the Labrador and I swam while Mrs. Bear did yoga on the white sand beach. By the time we got home and washed the dog it was 4pm and time for OMAD dinner breakfast.

If you are interested this is the region where we live. A local internal airline made this cringeworthy fantastical video. It’s really nothing like this, probably best to leave the sound off, and look past the white bathrobes, but you can see the natural landscapes.

[FrankoBear]

“Finding Healthy Me Wrapped In A Carnivore Onesie. Non-challenge February.” As my pitch for the FabFebCarnivoreFeed February thread title. Oops, another FindingMeInFeb carnivore challenge title slipped out. Is it really a challenge? It’s more familiar, a family. We post and chat, test ideas, and quiet watchers read. They wait on the edge of trying what we’ve found. And when they show, they are welcomed. They discover their way inside a framework, and see that each individual finds a path as we move toward better health, and in a lot of cases, healing, together, as a group.

The realisation dawns that food is secondary and the group, the community, the family, is where the psychological healing nutrition is found. We stop before reaching the cult signpost. I have loved this drift away from food this past month. Easier to do in summer holidays. I like the idea of an adventure or a curious exploration, rather than a “challenge”.

I think in February I’d like to explore effortlessness. It makes me think of @Fangs’s guiding light lessons (in their winter darkness) of finding effortless in simplification, and the things I learn from @Karen18 that showing up to practice and reiterate things that work (e,g. push ups, or stairs, or dancing routines) also create and add to effortlessness. Or @Alecmcq shifts into meditation during running. Or @carnivoor2 Vic who is already there in simplified effortlessness. And @JJFiddle Judy who finds the music in the madness. And @Naghite who is deep in nutritional dense jungle, poking and prodding, new, jiggly tasty bits, and in the knowledge depths finding the effort less. And @Shinita our ultimate Hungryarian keeping it real, finding joy in tiny flowers and forest treks and ginger cats, writing, thinking writing, in a second language, gaining skills in effortless story and expression, as they tread what can sometimes appear to be a more difficult path. And @Azi Linda a picture of determination sharing how she cracked the code and is finding healthy success. And @robintemplin Admin Robin keeping a lid on this carnivore stew. And @MeganNZ Megan (from across the ditch, living in the future sharing the importance of our pets in our support network and the things they teach us… I know there are more of us, but the bear droning is soporific.

Jumping the gun here on Frank’sFebruaryBearFeast… hahaha

[robintemplin]

You are a lucky man to live in that part of paradise.

[FrankoBear]

Robin, Thank you, too kind. It can be a nice setting. Of course they don’t document the ferocity of the southern Indian Ocean winter storms, or the dangers of that rugged coastline and the venomous wildlife. Tourists die here, but you won’t see that mentioned. The place is still wild in many ways. There are large sharks that eat people in half portions at those beauty filled beaches. The sudden, on night road kangaroos (like sudden deer in parts of the USA). The swarms of biting insects etc. It was a tourist travel marketing promotion video. They are always selling smoke; fantasy and expectation that end in disappointment. I’m sure we both recognise that what makes and breaks paradise is the people.

[robintemplin]

Indeed… nature brings some wildness… but worth the price of admission.

[Alecmcq]

OK, chicken liver/heart pate now tested…. Bloody gorgeous! I wanted to have it on some crunch, so I bought some pork crackles…. Not optimal, but easy and cheap, and perfect to get that crunch.

Next time, I think I am going to add some bacon and cream (I was going to do that this time, but I forgot until too late). The pate is pretty hard after being in the fridge, I think because the butter level is high. But it tastes balanced and mild, no severe liver taste. Recommend this to anyone who wants to eat liver, but doesn’t enjoy the taste of pure liver.
Cheers
Alec

[Naghite]

I like firsts. Had my first pork hock last night, my dog ate the bones afterwards

, still training myself to eat more fat in general, but this was good tasting

[FrankoBear]

Tonight I ate slow, oven-baked venison shank/hock. I think always add fat (butter) with game meat. We drove past the Venison Farm Shop on the way home from a tree saving protest in a small town further south. Billie the Labrador loved it as the farmer gave her a venison bone. I’m working on becoming a hippy but without the vegetarianism. A land developer from the city wants to bulldoze an old growth forest. We’ve got plenty of greedy land developers but not many old growth forests. So Mrs Bear and I sided with the trees. The roast venison was good as an OMAD meal with a pair of coffees earlier in the day. Another day of food being less important than Life.

Mrs Bear did a yoga tree pose inside a hollow tree stump from a forest giant logged in the 1920s. I made it into a trippy digital painting. The police asked us to leave.

[robintemplin]

Your talk about the killing of our old forests etc made me think of my most beloved novel, The Overstory by Richard Powers. He won the Pulitzer while I was reading it, and I almost cried.
I am guessing you are a reader, and also guessing you have little time for reading for pleasure. But if you want the perfect book waiting on your shelf for the right time, I would highly recommend it. It’s brilliant and moving and frankly life changing.

[Shinita]

I just popped in a tiny bit (then I wrote about the cats so it’s longer than I thought. of course that happened).
I changed my plans a bit, I will be back on Tuesday, I don’t need even minuscule amount of plants for a fat fast day (but I probably will eat up my meat, I have chicken/pork soup and fried mincemeat from that very, very lean pork Alvaro bought in the little town he works in… and make a fat fast day on the 1st? No idea what I will desire but I will make sure that if I go for fat, I will keep my protein very low or else it just will be an overeating day with zillion protein and even more fat)…
Plans for tomorrow didn’t change (maybe the items, it’s possible I will eat more meat than originally planned, I have options), I want a lean day, very low-carb, of course. I am curious what will happen.

Had my first pork hock last night, my dog ate the bones afterwards

Nice! We ate some pork hock ourselves, it’s leftover from months ago, only the meat with little fat. Some nice smoked pork hock is one of my favs, I never buy the fresh stuff and only a few times a year the smoked one.

@FrankoBear: Awwww, another exceptionally well-written comment among your already high level ones, I enjoyed it.

We had SUNSHINE today and had a very nice walk, saw many seagulls on and above the pond.
{The last part is only about cats.}
The ginger cat is still here, meowing a lot, following Alvaro, it’s hard to catch it though. We don’t exactly need another cat, really. We will see. The vet said she is too young so probably not desexed, merely had an ear injury. It’s not a thing here to cut cat’s ear anyway… We got deworming medicine, Pie totally refused it. We wanted the tasty more expensive stuff and Alvaro tried and the vet seemed to give that but no, just the normal tablets, we were lucky the girls with active worm problems ate it. Pie is odd but had bad appetite today anyway. She didn’t eat the medicine in the wet cat food they all like very much but she ate it in the fried meat liquid and that stuff isn’t tasty, that’s why I give it to the cats…Too bad it was little so she only ate a bit of the medicine. Sigh. It’s always so stressful, that’s why Alvaro asked for the lovely tasty flavored chewy thing But didn’t remember how that looks like in its packaging. We will try to find another vet, probably in the city. This one sometimes didn’t even have ANY deworming medicine. But isn’t it, like, SUPER basic?
The two cats who were outside in the last quite few days were super happy today and enjoyed all the beds and bean bags the house offers. Purring and being lovely cats, at least Caroline and Tofu in the first minute when I pet her. She becomes the usual grumpy tsundere later.
The time was very long since the last deworming session, the thought just never crossed my mind since my Aunt died and we had zillion other things to do and think about. Not like I can’t forget it anyway but after some months I tend to wonder about if it’s time. (I will put a note into my calendar now…)

Oh I should bring at least some more or less nice photos…
It was a week ago, didn’t last long:

It’s a tiny bamboo grove in the middle, bent by snow… Bamboo is a rare plant here but some gardens have it.

Our garden:

It melted but frost came back.

[JJFiddle]

Beautiful black & white snow photos @Shinita!

I’ve read all of the posts, but not creating a laundry list of comments at this time. It has been a long, exhausting but successful weekend!
One highlight was a Venmo tip of several hundred dollars on Friday night after we played “What A Wonderful World” (originally Louis Armstrong). I saw the amount or we were on break and went back to the table to verify that the decimal point hadn’t been misplaced. The lady said, “I didn’t put that amount in there, the Holy Ghost told me to. And I always do what He tells me to do.” Then this morning we were playing at church and I told this story and the pastor asked us to play it for them. He got a kick out of saying they got the song for free, lol.
Yesterday, teaching and then back to play the restaurant and the bar lastnight. Today, church and then a website designer meeting, followed by the roadhouse because we’d promised. But we didn’t stay, followed the signs and signals that it was time to go home!

My sous vide machine quit yesterday with boneless country style pork ribs inside so I threw them in the instant pot max to finish the sous vide there. We had them for a late lunch. I overrate! Then napped.
Friday I sous vided some pork chops. They seemed a little dry to me.
Yesterday, brisket. It was lovely and beef really does hold a body better through a night of work.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll sous vide chuck steaks in the instant pot max and meanwhile clean the Joule to see if it’s just dirty or if I have to replace it again!

Today was in the 70s and sunny but the next few, were looking at a winter storm watch and lots of wind, ugh. We do get winter here but it rarely lasts long.

Here’s a pork chop from Friday: